While illegal migration is a business opportunity for (non-)governmental organisations, completely legal migration is apparently an opportunity for the former Mayor of Kranj. Boštjan Trilar is a personal friend of the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Tanja Fajon, and the director of a company that “manages” workers from the Philippines in Slovenia. The very ones who, because of their miserable accommodation conditions, have now found themselves in the spotlight of the dominant media.
The media recently broke the story of eleven Filipinos who had arrived in Slovenia legally, with work permits. They attracted media attention because of the poor living conditions in which they were forced to live. They are crammed into small spaces; mould is growing on the walls, and there is not enough hot water for all of them. The 11 Filipinos in question, used to a warm climate, also complained about the cold. The space where they live is being heated by a single wood-burning stove, and they cannot switch on the electric radiator because the electricity “runs out”.
They are employed as bus drivers by the company Arriva. This does not mean, however, that they are here without a “middleman”. Their accommodation and integration is provided by the company Workforce, whose director is Boštjan Trilar, known to our readers for his statement from his days as the Mayor of Kranj: “I drove drunk as Boštjan Trilar, not as the Mayor.” The company is paid 200 euros per person a month for its services.
Tanja Fajon, Filipino workers’ conductor
In breaking the story, the dominant media managed to leave out some key details. As the Demokracija (Democracy) magazine journalist Vida Kocjan pointed out: “Interesting. No media outlet links Workforce, the company importing Filipinos, to its Director, Boštjan Trilar, the former Mayor of Kranj, who is linked to Alenka Bratušek and Andreja Kert (the Freedom Movement party).” Trilar can, of course, also be linked to Tanja Fajon. According to the show Tednik, Trilar and Fajon are also said to have socialised in private.
This is an important detail, because Fajon recently visited the Philippines, where she noted that “although Slovenia and the Philippines are geographically far apart, they are close in many ways and values.” Behind this virtue signalling, there are, of course, cold business interests. Namely, they want to compensate for labour shortages in Slovenia with Filipino workers. “Foreign labour, Filipino labour, is wanted here,” Fajon told the media.
But Trilar can also be linked to other centres of power on the left. Alenka Bratušek’s and Boštjan Trilar’s lists stood together in the local elections in Kranj. An MP of the Freedom Movement party (Gibanje Svoboda), Andreja Kert, was also elected as part of Alenka Bratušek‘s list. However, she later left the group due to disagreements. Some online users have also linked Trilar to Marta Kos, the European Commissioner who was the director and co-owner of the Gustav Käser Training International, where Trilar obtained his training licence in 2011.
Labour brokerage companies were set up by public institutions
The founders of the Workforce company are also interesting. According to the data available on Erar, the company had a large number of founders who entered and left the ownership structure. Among them are several public institutions, such as the Novo mesto Students’ Institute for Youth, Culture, Tourism and Sport; the Situla Institute, the Centre of Youth, Children’s and Youth Interest Activities, and the Goriška Students Club.
Today, Workforce is 100 percent owned by the company Heads Adriatic, a recruitment consultancy. The majority owner of Heads Adriatic is the Hungarian company Whc international tanácsadó korlátolt felelősségű társaság, while the minority owners are Marko Kolenc, Ambit Business Services and Aleš Sladojević.
Workforce is doing a lot of business with the state. So far, more than 75 million euros has flowed from state-owned companies into the company’s account.
The largest business deals have been made with the Slovenian Post, Slovenian Railways – Towing and Technics, and healthcare institutions are also among their business partners.
Ž. K
